Why is the specific theater important?

To me, sightlines are the key concern I have with a theater when I am thinking about going to a show. I am also concerned about whether a particular show is in the right size theater because that can affect the enjoyment of a show. Example would be IMO "The Drowsy Chaperone" should have been in a much smaller theater than the Marriott Marquis theater. Not sure this helps you, but I tried.

I always wonder when you hear producers talk about the most desired theaters how that's all justified. MANY MANY shows bomb at the Broadhurst/Music Box/Jacobs/Booth/Shubert despite being among the ones everyone clamors for. They say shows east of Broadway aren't desirable but many shows are hits there (usually with a name attached, admittedly.) I always think if people want to see a show for whatever reason they'll find the theatre if it's on 9th Ave, 3rd Ave, etc. If a show is going to flop I think it's just going to anywhere. I don't think moving, say, Honeymoon in Vegas to 45th St would have made it a hit.

I know factors like size/intamacy/sight-lines/backstage space are usually the most important factors when a producer gets to "pick" a house but you still hear producers talk like "we will flop in THIS 1,100 house but do big business in the 1,978 seat house!"

If I’ve been to a theatre and liked my seat, I tend to buy that location again for future shows. Like I have a section I like to sit in at Circle in the Square, always will sit in the mezz at the Lyceum, really enjoy the orch at the Kerr, etc etc. If I haven’t been to that theatre before, then picking my seat becomes a little more challenging. Otherwise, I don’t care which show goes in what theatre.

I agree with what others have said above. In terms of accessibility, very few theaters have an elevator/escalator (Gershwin, Marquis, Circle in the Square, James Earl Jones, New Amsterdam, Minskoff, Friedman, American Airlines are the ones I can think out of my head right now.) I know Lyceum & Longacre have elevators but they're tiny and tend to only go to certain floors.

Also, not all theaters have an accessible restroom onsite. I know Shubert theater is notorious for this (patrons are taken across the street.) Golden theater doesn't have one either and patrons are taken to the Schoenfeld lobby to use the accessible restroom there. Things may have changed but that's what I recall from going to these theaters before pandemic.

Re the Marquis, I feel like I said at least some of this not too long ago in a thread.

1. It is hard to locate.

2. The present box office location is arguably better, but still attentuated from the theatre.

3. It feels like a road house. People expect something else from a Broadway theatre.

4. But the #1 defect is that the space was designed by someone who doesn't know or understand theatres. For a production, the stage and back stage are terrible: very inadequate wings, long distances, and who builds a 3rd floor theatre with no freight elevator? This might not set off alarms for some producers, but believe it or not the theatre is a collaborative undertaking and walking a director and their designers through the space causes visible retching.

Is there any theatre with a worse track record than the Marquis? A quick glance at the Wikipedia page seems to indicate they haven't had an open run recoup since The Drowsy Chaperone 2006, despite Evita and Beetlejuice both breaking the house record several times.

Yikes.

There are 41 Broadway theaters and they are all different.

For me, I would be disappointed if a show I wanted to see book the Marquis because it's a dull, lifeless theater to me. If a small intimate play booked the St. James, that would be problematic too, just as a show transferring in with a massive set booked the John Golden; we know we will be missing something simply because of the theater.

On tour, it really doesn't matter which touring house you see a show in; those theaters are all more or less the same thing. Broadway is different. There is a lot of showbiz and personal history in these theaters, and it matters where a show goes.